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Who We Are

We build EPIC franchise systems.

Since 2008, Brand Journalists has labored to accomplish our core mission: Help individuals participate in the economy at THEIR FULL MARKET VALUE. We believe business ownership and franchising, in particular, are the best ways for anyone to take control of their lives, generate an income without limits, balance out work and personal life and design a positive future while building a legacy at the same time.  Franchising is an attractive choice for anyone thinking about opening a business: it offers a systemized business connected to a brand that already has a customer base. Operating a franchise trades of some level of entrepreneurship for a potentially less risky business that is easier to operate, comes with a social network and that has higher resale potential.

Today, franchising has come of age and matured. Franchises are the option of choice for many potential business owners. With increasingly younger and more diverse populations of Americans looking seriously at franchising as an option, franchise companies should be growing at a record pace. Sadly, they are not.

Franchise companies struggle today despite some of the best operating conditions in the past half-century. Even though there are over 12 million people looking at franchising options, we struggle to get 30% on the phone and the average franchise recruiter rarely gets a single buyer from hundreds of franchise leads. There is a shortage of skilled franchise recruiters and brands are finding it near impossible to match the crazy, every changing buying process a prospective owner has. Franchise buyers today expect more than a typical franchise company is prepared to give them – transparency, control over the process, the ability to jump ahead in the franchisor’s sales process whenever they want.

Generating demand in an opportunity in today’s crowded and noisy marketing environment is also a challenge; the average buyer isn’t easy to get to and they don’t spend all their time on Google looking for you. Successful franchise lead generation campaigns are diverse and highly contextual to the specific buyer persona you target. Buyers are on Facebook, LinkedIn, in messenger, on text apps, and on popular websites that have nothing to do with franchising.

What We Do

We help brands create breakthroughs in franchise development in some specific ways:

1. We develop a list of targeted franchise personas that are both a fundamental fit for the culture of the brand and that have the means/passion/skills to succeed as a franchisee
2. We develop an interactive brand story-based franchise recruitment website that engages prospects, answers common questions and converts visitors to leads at a high level
3. We build robust budgets that allow you to achieve your franchise sales goal at an affordable cost per deal, typically far below industry norms
4. We launch targeted franchise lead generation programs and work with you to improve lead flow monthly
5. We report on results monthly so you understand where every dollar goes and understand the ROI on your marketing
6. We work with your sales team to adjust the sales process, train salespeople and help you manage to numbers using best practices

We Get Results

Last year, we added over $42 Million in value to the clients we worked with. We generated over 750 closed franchise deals for the teams we worked with and have helped our clients close over 10,000 franchise agreements since we started in 2008. If you are trying to grow a new franchise brand, restart a mature brand or simply want to explore better ways to reach your development goals, start a conversation with us about your goals.

Important Resources

What the Franchise? Podcast

We publish the What the Franchise podcast, available on this site or Apple iTunes (and the podcast app) which focuses on best practices for franchise recruiters, Franchise CEOs and founders or VPs of Development. Want to see what some of the most successful franchise recruiters are doing to get results? Do yourself a favor and listen to it – we guarantee it will be a valuable use of your commute time!

Articles on franchise development

We believe in sharing the recipe for success and we’re blessed to have the opportunities we have to look behind the curtains of hundreds of companies, work in tandem with development teams and aggressively solve problems and push boundaries.  To this end, we publish articles often on franchise development topics – check out our blog section and see what you’re missing!